Forced Marriage

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: A forced marriage is one where one or both of the spouses do not consent to the marriage or where consent is extracted through duress. Duress includes both physical and emotional pressure. Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights and a form of domestic violence that the Government are determined to tackle. It cannot be justified on any religious or cultural basis. With this in mind the Government are today announcing a package of new measures designed to combat the abuse. These are:
	A joint Home Office-Foreign Office forced marriage unit (FMU), to be operational by the end of the year. This will be the Government's central unit dealing with forced marriage casework, policy and projects. It will provide information and assistance both to potential victims and to concerned professionals.
	A consultation later this year on whether to create a specific criminal offence of forcing someone into marriage. This will fully engage with victims of forced marriage, women's groups and NGOs to consider how best the law can be used to support victims.
	Forced marriage will be targeted as a specific abuse that the Government are determined to tackle in the revision of the key inter-agency guidance on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This guidance will have statutory backing. This will help to ensure best practice guidance for social workers (issued in March this year) and education professionals (to be issued in December this year) on how to tackle forced marriage will be implemented across the country, with many more cases being successfully identified and dealt with.
	The minimum age for marriage entry clearance will be raised from 16 to 18. This is to give those who face forced marriage extra time in which to mature and resist familial pressure for them to enter a marriage that they do not want. In support of this an extra entry clearance officer will be posted in Islamabad to help these reluctant spouses. This officer will also assist those who have been abandoned in Pakistan by their partners and who have the right to return to the UK. This will increase our ability to support victims and stop further abuse in the wake of forced marriage.
	Forced marriage is, of course, very different from arranged marriage, where the families of both spouses take a leading role in arranging the marriage but the choice whether or not to accept the arrangement remains with the prospective couple.

Adult Social Care

Lord Warner: My honourable Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Community (Dr Stephen Ladyman) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.
	We have made a commitment to review the national minimum standards for social care, made under the Care Standards Act 2000, within three years of their introduction. The Government are now beginning the review of the standards and the associated legislative framework for adult social care. Following the review, we will carefully consider the case for change. We intend to implement any changes to the adult social care standards in 2006.